Kerry warns Syria's Assad

Tensions are rising along Syria's borders as government forces battle to regain control of a strategic border town from rebel fighters.

An exchange of fire between Syrian and Israeli forces on the Golan Heights lent weight to warnings the civil war could become a regional conflict. It is feared this could draw in Israel and Iran, which sponsors the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, and harden the fault line between Shiite-ruled nations backing President Bashar al-Assad's regime and Sunni-led Arab nations that support the rebels.

US Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Jordan for a meeting of the Friends of Syria group of nations in Amman on Wednesday, to press leaders from 10 other nations to back a US-Russian effort to end the conflict with peace talks next month.

A woman protests in Beirut against Hezbollah's role in Syria. Photo: AFP Photo: AFP

Intense fighting continued for a third day in Qusayr, held since February by the Free Syrian Army.

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The border town of 25,000 has been a key rebel supply route. Videos filmed by activists showed the now familiar images of streets reduced to rubble, residents digging for survivors and the bloodied bodies of children. At least 64 civilians had been killed and hundreds wounded, local activists said.

Although Syrian state media reported gains by government troops, with support from Hezbollah, it was clear they also suffered significant losses. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights indicated at least 31 Hezbollah fighters had died.

The US has expressed concern about Hezbollah's involvement.

''It is the most visible effort we have seen of Hezbollah to engage directly in the fighting in Syria as a foreign force,'' a State Department official said. ''We understand there are also Iranians up there.''

''The Assad regime is regaining ground,'' a Syria analyst who did not want to be named said. ''If things continue as they are now it is quite possible that Assad will stay in power.''

Others urged caution, with Mona Yacoubian, a senior Middle East adviser at the Washington-based Stimson Centre, warning that Syria would likely be trapped in a ''deadly stalemate''.

''To view this as a turning point where the revolution will wither on the vine … would be wrong - this is offensive and counter-offensive and what this means is more misery and more death,'' she said.

Some were using the regime's gains to argue for military intervention by the West - a move Ms Yacoubian said would only result in more civilian deaths and casualties.

The obvious presence of Hezbollah fighters alongside Assad regime forces did, however, mark a turning point, said Shlomo Brom, a senior research associate at the Institute for National Security Studies and a retired Israel Defence Forces brigadier-general.

''Hezbollah have been helping the regime for a long time but … this is a new thing. Their involvement earlier was not so blatant,'' he said.

Israeli forces returned fire into Syria after a military jeep was damaged by shots fired overnight, prompting armed forces chief Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz to warn Dr Assad: ''If he disturbs the Golan Heights, he will have to bear the consequences.''

More than 80,000 people have been killed, according to the UN, and 1.5 million people have fled since the conflict began.